We had wild, apocalyptic weather this week. Sleet, hard rain, cold winds that blew my umbrella apart, thunder and lightning, noisy hail pounding at the skylights, and then snow. Lots of heavy, flocking snow.

I got up on Wednesday before my alarm, knocked all the snow from my crushed and sagging arborvitae, shoveled the driveway for an hour, then realized I wouldn’t be able to drive. So I stuffed a pair of shoes into my backpack, walked a mile to school in my wet boots, and began teaching–only to have an annoying pop-up appear on my students’ screens midway through class: the university would close at noon.

The only thing that redeems these storms is their unexpected beauty.  The thundersnow plummets to the ground like it’s made of marble. It chokes the roads and cripples my trees. And yet it’s so pretty. Crazy, beautiful, dangerous storm.